The Video Diaries

Ash's Video

When Misty sat back down on the couch with her DVD in hand, Ash didn't budge from where he was sitting. We even waited a few seconds for him to get up and put his own DVD into the player, but he didn't move.

"Ash?" Misty asked in a tentative tone. "It's your turn. You're the last one to go."

He quickly looked at her, letting out a loud sigh as he stood up and walked over to the DVD player. Pulling the DVD out of the plastic case, he slipped it in, turned on his heel, and walked back to the couch before Misty pressed play.

Ash's video opened with a picture of Misty's bike, while in the background, you could hear the music Team Rocket always used to play when they would perform their motto. Where was he going with this?

"I blame this for all my misfortune. When I found it, it was in one piece, but when she found it, it was in a million. Yet, here it stands again in one piece like magic. I never had to do a thing either."

I watched as Misty glanced at Ash, a questioning look on her face. So far, every video had Misty's notorious bike in it. It shouldn't have surprised me that Ash would mention it as well. Despite Misty's protests, I had always felt that the bike impacted Ash more than her.

"So why is my opening a clip of Misty's prized bike accompanied by Team Rocket's annoying motto music? Well, for one, the bike is a metaphor. And the music, well, it relates to how I feel about the bike. Every time someone mentions the bike all I can hear is that music in my head as the evil reminder of the bike graces my ears once again. Because just like Team Rocket, that bike was there every day, a constant reminder of why my life had turned out the way it did. At one point I had even gone as far as creating my own lyrics for that song they sang called Double Trouble. I only came up with the chorus, though. Might as well share it I guess...Let's just say I was a little bitter at the time.

Screw Misty's bike

Stupid bike, no one cares.

Stupid bike, I'm so glad that you're wrecked.

Screw Misty's bike

I won't pay, it's not my fault.

She can't blame me for something Pikachu-u did.

I hope she never gets it back.

So yeah...there you go. So, what's this metaphor accompanying the bike you ask? Well, it represents my own journey. It started out as a singular item, but quickly became broken into different parts. Through time, though, life tried to fix the bike, replacing the parts and bringing back the old ones when the new ones didn't work. But in the end, I ended up alone, just like how Nurse Joy had put the once discombobulated bike back into one thing. So yeah, I guess I still hated that bike."

"Oh my god, Ash," Misty gawked from her seat. "I didn't know you could think on such deep levels!"

"That better be a compliment," Ash snapped at her.

"Oh, of course," she quickly nodded, sarcasm in her voice.

"Shhh," I hissed at them.

"When Brock told me that we would be making these video diaries and then watching them when we were older, I was a bit skeptical. I mean, what were the chances that we would actually stay friends THAT long? Misty was going to be gone once she got her bike-although I was hoping she would just leave-and Brock would probably leave when she left. As time went on, though, I realized that maybe you guys were going to be there for a while. So, I decided to start videotaping some stuff. But, unlike the happy, sentimental memories of friendship that I know you and Misty would cover in your videos; I decided to take a different approach. I wanted to capture the real Misty and Brock that only I knew about. The ones buried deep under the fiery temper and obsession with females."